Invalid walker



y 1957 R. J. FRANK INVALID WALKER Filgd March 20,, 1953 RICHARD J. FRANK,

BY Wm ATTORNEY United States Patent INVALID WALKER Richard J. Frank, St. Petersburg, Fla., assignor to Winfield Company, Inc., South St. Petersburg, Fla.

Application March 20, 1953, Serial No. 343,774

2 Claims. (Cl. 155-22) This invention relates to invalid supporting devices, and more particularly to frames commonly called invalid walkers.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide a strong rigid walker which will provide that secure support so essential to persons whose lower limbs have become insecure through paralysis, arthritis or the like.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide the said walker with a seat portion upon which the invalid may repose when his strength becomes exhausted through the effort of walking or similar lapse.

It is a particular object of this invention to provide an invalid walker having all of the above abilities and made from aluminum tubing in such sections that a minimum of parts is involved and extreme rigidity may be effected without the use of heavy wall tubing or welded joints, it being understood that heavy wall tubing adds substantially to the weight and necessary effort of moving the walker and that welded joints in aluminum and light metal structures are commonly subject to failure as well as adding greatly to the expense of construction.

It is the final and complete purpose of this invention to provide an extremely light rigid walking device which can be sold at low cost and thus be most useful to persons partially crippled by wounds or disease. Certain other improvements and advantages will appear as the appended description proceeds and the attached drawings are inspected.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the complete walker with the seat in a horizontal position.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the walker shown in Fig. 1 with the seat in raised position.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the walker shown in the previous figures with the seat in lowered position.

Referring to the figures, is a major section of the frame consisting of two leg portions 11 and 12 which join into horizontal portions 14 and 15, which in turn merge into opposite portions 16 and 17, in turn joined by the horizontal portions 19 to form the complete unit 10. Joining the vertical portions of unit 10 is a U-shaped frame 20 having horizontal portions 21 and 22 joining into and forming part of a frontal horizontal portion 24 all included in unit 20. It will be understood that U- shaped frame 20 is joined to frame 10 through the use of expansion plugs and like devices well known to the art to form rigid juncture therewith. Joining to and supporting portions 10 and 20 are two straight vertical legs 30 and 31 affixed thereto by bolts 33 and 35. Legs 30 and 31 are provided with projecting studs 38 and 39 upon which hinge a second U-shaped frame 40. U-shaped frame portion 40 has two horizontal sections 41 and 42 which project rearwardly past the leg portions 11 and 12 of frame 10 on either side thereof. Forwardly they project upwardly, outwardly, and then inwardly to join with a connecting member 44 passing across the front of the entire frame. Horizontal portions 41 and 42 serve to support a fabric seat web whose ends are circle portions 41 and 42, as at 53 and 54. The rearward ends of portions 41 and 42 and therethrough the seat 50 are supported by pins 52 and 53 on vertical members 11 and 12 of frame 10 when the seat is down. When the seat is up, as in Fig. 2, the web seat 50 presses tight against the forward vertical legs 31 and 32 as shown, and is thus out of the way of the invalids legs when walking. I prefer to provide the lower ends of legs 11, 12, 30, 31 with rubber feet and since such legs are thin walled these may be removed and the leg length adjusted as best suited to a particular invalid.

It will be obvious that the above described structure is at once simple, capable of easy construction and will be exeremely rigid as has been proven in use and that while it is particularly adapted to be constructed or" aluminum, manifestly other light metals or even extremely thin tubing of heavier metals may be employed and that the structure avoids any necessity for the welding and joints heretofore thought necessary for extremely thin walled metals, especially those of the non-ferrous type.

What I claim is:

1. In an invalid walker, a plurality of substantially straight vertical leg members, two of said members being joined together with and forming part of an outwardly bent substantially horizontal continuous U-shaped one piece portion at their tops and by a similarly bent independent member below said tops; two other of said vertical members being joined to the outer corners of said U portions so that a four-sided frame :is provided, said frame in combination with a U-shaped member slightly wider than the above said U portions, and pivoted to two of said vertical members between the first said U portions, so as to swing thereon and over the vertical parts of the said one-piece section; said swinging U frame adapted to receive the ends of a fabric seat and to support the same within the four-sided frame when swung downwardly against stops provided on the rearward portions thereof.

2. The invalid walker structure which includes a single piece of seamless aluminum tubing providing two rear legs and a top rail, two substantially straight front legs joined at their tops to the aforesaid piece, a brace member engaged with all of said legs a seat frame and supplementary brace member attached by pivot bolts to said front legs to aid in spacing and securing the same and to engage the sides of said rear legs and stops thereon when lowered, said rear legs in turn spacing and supporting said seat frame and a seat thereon when so lowered and a person sits on said seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,087,928 Diemer Feb. 24, 1914 1,163,263 Rudduck Dec. 7, 1915 1,448,783 Blewitt et a1. Mar. 20, 1923 1,572,378 Breen Feb. 9, 1926 2,305,249 Frost Dec. 15, 1942 2,430,235 Mendenhall Nov. 4, 1947 2,433,969 Wood Ian. 6, 1948 2,627,904 Thieman Feb. 10, 1953 2,708,473 Gable May 17, 1955 

